Recollection
by Shining Zephyr
Summary: *E/C, RaiN; implied WinStet, HY* Interlude between Retribution and Recapitulation. The rain is still coming, and people are still healing. But who's truly healing after Horatio has been shot?


**I'm doing an interlude between **_Retribution _**and** _Recapitulation_. ******This will help you kind of get you into the mindset of what will happen in the next story. I've never actually done this before, so... here goes!**

**Nope, still don't own it.**

* * *

Recolletion

The Columbian bit her lip, watching through the window and feeling tears leak out of her eyes for what seemed to be the something time that month. The man lay in the bed, eyes closed, body wrapped up in a green patient uniform. Her hand was over her mouth, shaking her head, turning her head. It had been a week since the shooting, and he had been in a coma for those past seven days. There were no signs of him waking up any time soon, and it was beginning to worry her. His sunglasses sat on the table next to him, as did a great many cards signed by his teammates. A doctor walked up to her, looking through the window. "You know Horatio Caine?"

Yelina turned to him and nodded slightly, holding a blue rose. "We're family." She wiped her eyes and swallowed. "I can't believe this happened to him. I was right there next to him. Why wasn't I shot at instead of him?"

He shook his head, not able to answer such a deep question. The man turned away and wrote some things on a clipboard, leaving Yelina alone again. Her thoughts drifted to the last moments she had spent with him before he was shot...

_- - -_

_He looked down at their intertwined fingers and swallowed, his throat dry. It wasn't okay. He was turning into a merciless killer, a relentless pursuer of justice. He ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head. "Yelina, what's coming over me? I'm turning into something so evil, so relentless. I don't understand. I need... I need someone right now. I don't know who, though."_

_"My door is always open," she replied quietly, the rain pouring down even harder than before. Puddles slowly began to form in the front yard._

_Horatio nodded, watching a car drive by. "Tha-"_

_BANG._

_- - -_

Yelina closed her eyes in sorrow as she heard the gunshot go off in her memories again. She had heard that same sound for the past seven days in a row, and she could not help but feel worry about the man in the room she watched. Thunder rolled again outside, and she sighed, listening to the rain fall once again. It had been like this for the whole week, never ceasing. If it wasn't pouring, it would be a simple drizzle or mist. It was customary now to carry an umbrella with you everywhere now- if you didn't, you'd get caught in a nasty storm.

But as she stood there, taking a momentary glance at the door, she couldn't help but wonder if she was caught in a never-ending storm of emotion.

Her fingers toyed with the stem of the rose before she finally made up her mind. With a small smile, she walked over to the door and opened it softly, peeking in and shutting it ever so softly. Yelina walked over to the chair next to Horatio's bedside and gave a soft sigh. She saw a vase next to his bed, and she slipped the flower inside it. For minutes, she sat there, merely gazing at the lieutenant with this scared expression on her face.

* * *

"Eric, we can't keep calling them every single hour," Calleigh objected quietly, placing her hand on his own, her eyes shining. "We have to give them a ay where we don't bug them about his condition. You heard Doctor Gitch- he'll give us news when he gets it."

The Hispanic stared down at his phone for several long moments before shutting the device and putting it on the table. His head was in his hands, his voice muffled. "It's been a week, Cal. You'd think they would have made some progress."

The ballistics expert nodded. "I know, but he's almost in a dream state. It's unexplainable and everything, but they're trying their best." She put her chin in her palm and shook her head. "I don't understand. What happened to Horatio? He was just sitting on the porch with Yelina, then someone drives by and _shoots_ him. There can't be any connection to Alexx's murder, can there?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Eric admitted, shrugging.

The lab had been quietly working on cases, Calleigh having been promoted as temporary head of the lab. There wasn't any joking, no funny quips, nothing. The new ME, Shannon Higgins, seemed to notice this and did her work quietly, merely giving the CSIs information when they asked it, calling them every now and again with new news about the victims. The cases these days usually had something to do with the weather- drownings mostly. Homicidal drownings.

No one understood the cases, but it made perfect sense- in a twisted sort of way.

The woman stood up and looked down at her phone, sighing. "I miss him, Eric," she muttered, feeling shame creep up her back. A comment made to Natalia came back to her, and she winced at the harshness of her own words...

- - -

_She swallowed, a wave of tears threatening to overcome her as she looked around the room for any signs of a weapon or something that was able to kill one of her closet friends. "Have you found anything yet, Natalia?"_

_"Nothing. Although I'd love to give the killer a piece of my mind right now."_

_Calleigh laughed bitterly and stood up. "I'd like to give Horatio a piece of my mind right now. He's so full of hot air that he can't even show his feelings. What is happening to him? One minute, he's a martyr, the next he's a vigilante, the next he's just..." She fell back to her knees. "Damnit, there are just so many sides to him now, I don't know which one is the real Horatio Caine that I grew to love and respect!"_

- - -

Eric simply nodded. "I know you do, Cal. We all miss him. None of us actually thought this would happen, and..." He swallowed. "Lo and behold, he gets shot. I didn't think it would actually ever happen to him. He just seemed to have some sort of spiritual barrier protecting him or something. And it's almost like... like it shattered or something." He looked out the window of the coffee room and watched the rain fall, getting up and pouring himself more of the tasteless coffee. "Ever since that day, it's like the we cry, and the world cries with us."

Calleigh's shoulders shook with wracking sobs. "You make it sound as if he's going to die, Eric."

"I didn't mean it like that!" he replied quickly, suddenly realizing the error he had made. "It's just..." He looked frustrated. "I don't know. I don't know anymore." He walked over and embraced the crying woman, who had simply broken into many shards. "I just don't know right now, Cal..."

* * *

"_Shit..._" Ryan swore under his breath, watching the lightning flash across the skies, the rain come down harder than ever.

Natalia sighed and leaned her head in her hand, her elbow propped up against the door. "This was a great time to get stuck in traffic, wasn't it?"

The CSI turned to his companion, his voice annoyed. "That wasn't funny at all."

The Hummer that held Ryan and Natalia was stuck on the interstate as both people attempted to make their way to the hospital to see their boss. Natalia looked down at her cell phone, her voice heavy. "I don't know, Ryan. Something really feels wrong about going. Why can't we just let Yelina be there by herself? You know Doctor Gitch is going to call us when he gets some info."

She couldn't help it. She felt so obliged to obey the private investigator's wishes right now, and she knew that the PI and her boss were very close to each other. Even if Horatio wasn't out of his coma, she had a strange feeling that he could actually feel Yelina's presence. Natalia leaned back in her chair, running her fingers through her hair. "Come on, let's go for lunch or something. I don't think it's a great idea to intrude on her private time with him."

Ryan's hands gripped the steering wheel. "As if we've gotten time alone with him?"

"Ryan, _please._ Listen to yourself," she pleaded. "You... you're sounding like Horatio when he's angry. And I don't want you to just... _turn into him."_

He stopped at a stoplight and leaned back in his chair, pausing at the sound and truth of her words...

- - -

__

_"C'mon, Ryan. We gotta process this."_

_He shook his head suddenly. "No."_

_Natalia bit her lip, tears running down her own face. "We have..."_

_"I'm not processing a colleague's crime scene!" he practically yelled at the top of his lungs. "I'm not going to process her crime scene. I can't. I just... I can't, 'Talia."_

_She put her kit down and gave Ryan her hand. For a moment they stood there together, silently crying out at the world that had taken away their one true human connection as a family..._

- - -

Ryan didn't say anything and hit the gas pedal as soon as the light turned green. He pulled over into a parking lot and pulled into a spot. He killed the engine and simply watched the rain fall, feeling his emotions fall with it. There was silence in the vehicle for several moments before Natalia shifted in her seat. "I know you're feeling angry right now, Ryan. But we have to channel it into something else. You just can't aim it at someone and shoot it."

He sighed and hit the wheel, causing Natalia to jump. "I don't know anymore. I don't know what to feel right now. It's so hard to take all of this in still. I haven't healed from Alex's death, and now I'm supposed to be healing from H's near experience?! I can't do that! I'm not made of steel like H is! I never will be!"

The woman said nothing, giving Ryan room to vent. It was rare when he actually did this sort of thing in front of his coworkers, and she couldn't help but... well, she couldn't help but listen. Ryan never talked about his feelings.

So, in a sense, her statement was true.

He _was_ kind of turning into Horatio...

* * *

Julia looked up from her breakfast and smiled. "It's your day off?"

Rick shrugged, sitting down at the table next to her. "Yeah. I'm not really needed right now. No one has anything big against Horatio, so... I'm not needed that much." Thunder boomed again, and he winced, watching the pool overflow in the backyard. "You've got your own little lake back there," he joked.

"I know. I've been meaning to drain it when the rain let up, but it's been raining for the whole week," she admitted. "I don't know what I should actually do. Go out and empty it into the lake in the back or just... I don't know."

It had practically been an all week sleepover over at Julia's house. Rick and the woman had been sleeping in the same house- no, wait. The same _bed-_ for the past couple of days, and times were getting interested. Rick had grown to liking Julia immensely, and it showed through his affections to her. He had gotten up and made nearly every meal of the day, while she ran out and did errands as best as she could in the midst of the storms. There hadn't been any bumps in the road yet.

And yet, as she looked out the window, she couldn't help but remember what Horatio had told her that day when she had snatched his sunglasses from him...

- - -

_There was a sort of cold fire in his eyes. It seemed to be a small flame at first, and it suddenly erupted into an out-of-control wildfire. He slowly reached out his hand and took back the shades from Julia, his voice filled with chilled anger. "If I didn't, do you know how much emotion I would convey to the murderer? Do you know what would happen, Julia? I would probably go and lose my job." His gaze turned off towards the water, a light mist beginning to finally fall on them as the thunderclouds came even closer to the city. "Am I allowed to show emotion when I do my job? No."_

_She backed away._

_"You don't want me to hide behind my sunglasses- then you're going to get emotions, Julia. You're going to get pounded with them."_

_Julia's breathing seemed to quicken slowly. "Horatio... I didn't mean for..."_

_The redhead glared at her. "Then don't ever imply it again."_

- - -

"Julia?"

Rick's concerned voice snapped her out of her gaze and she looked back at him, a smile unfurling. "Yes? Are you okay?"

He shook his head. "I was just worried about you, frankly."

Julia looked down at her food. "Has Kyle come down yet?"

"He's over at Yelina's place right now," he replied, bitterness in his tone. "I'd go over and see how they were doing, but I'm not one partial to getting black eyes." He poked his food now and set down his fork, sighing. "What's the weather supposed to be today?"

She looked at the paper, her eyes narrowing. "Rain. Rain, rain, rain."

Rick groaned. "Again?"

Julia expected nothing less from the weather. In fact, she was growing to like it.

Like everyone else, it was almost helping in the healing process... almost. Her eyes scanned the paper, and she nearly choked on her food. She set down her own fork and took a drink, grabbing the paper and scanning it with fearful eyes. "No... no, it can't be..."

"Julia? What is it?" Rick questioned, concerned.

She looked up, her eyes wide with terror.

"Ron's escaped from jail..."

* * *

**Cliffhanger. C'mon, did you expect less from me? Look for** _Recapitulation,_ **coming sometime within the next week. Check out my profile for details. Can't wait to see you there!**


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